This was taken in India, at a circus in Ahmedabad. I think it was called the Great Golden Circus. I'm a street photographer, but I'm interested in any ironic, whimsical images, and there's something very romantic about a circus. I was doing a book; I spent six months travelling, saw 18 different circuses, and it was just a wonderful time. Believe me, there couldn't be a more strange place for a circus than India.

I made an appointment to photograph Ram Prakash Singh and the elephant he trained, called Shyama. Singh had a very big ego – he was also the ringmaster, the No 1 guy – which explains the expression on his face. He actually thought the picture was all about him. I always leave it up to my subject to see what they come up with, and he wrapped the elephant's trunk around his neck. I thought it was great and shot a couple of rolls. But when I looked at the pictures afterwards, I noticed that in one shot Shyama had slid his eyes to the side, so he had a bit of an evil look on his face. That was definitely the one to use.

I work in colour sometimes, but I guess the images I most connect to, historically speaking, are in black and white. I see more in black and white – I like the abstraction of it.

The picture has a very anthropo-morphic quality. That's why I like this so much: I think Shyama's communicating with me in a way. He had to stay in that position for a while. He'd had enough of the shoot. A year later, we learned that Shyama had died after eating a poisoned chapati.

CV

Born: Philadelphia, 1940.

Studied: University of Pennsylvania.

Inspirations: "Cartier-Bresson, Robert Frank."

Dislike: "Nowadays shots are created in post-production, on computers. It's not really photography."

Top tip: "Photograph the world as it is. Nothing's more interesting than reality."